Question: Find the ordered pair $(a,b)$ of real numbers such that the cubic polynomials $x^3 + ax^2 + 11x + 6 = 0$ and $x^3 + bx^2 + 14x + 8 = 0$ have two distinct roots in common.
Solution: Let $r$ and $s$ be the two common roots.  Then $r$ and $s$ are the roots of
\[(x^3 + ax^2 + 11x + 6) - (x^3 + bx^2 + 14 + 8) = (a - b) x^2 - 3x - 2.\]Note that $r$ and $s$ are also the roots of
\begin{align*}
&4(x^3 + ax^2 + 11x + 6) - 3(x^3 + bx^2 + 14x + 8) \\
&= x^3 + (4a - 3b) x^2 + 2x \\
&= x[x^2 + (4a - 3b) x + 2].
\end{align*}Since the constant coefficient of $x^3 + ax^2 + 11x + 6$ is nonzero, both $r$ and $s$ are non-zero.  Therefore, $r$ and $s$ are the roots of
\[x^2 + (4a - 3b) x + 2.\]Hence, both $r$ and $s$ are the roots of $-x^2 + (3b - 4a) x - 2.$  But $r$ and $s$ are also the roots of $(a - b) x^2 - 3x - 2,$ so the coefficients must match.  This gives us $a - b = -1$ and $3b - 4a = -3.$  Solving, we find $(a,b) = \boxed{(6,7)}.$

For these values, the given cubics become
\begin{align*}
x^3 + 6x^2 + 11x + 6 &= (x + 1)(x + 2)(x + 3), \\
x^3 + 7x^2 + 14x + 8 &= (x + 1)(x + 2)(x + 4).
\end{align*}